Did you create the character as well? (When you say, “apart from the render,” what do you mean?)

He means he didn’t make the render in photoshop.

Hey pirate, it has been a long time…

I like it. The only thing I have an issue with is the fact that Master Chief is just kind of floating there… if you added some sort of way that made it seem he was interacting with the world a bit more, or added something for him to stand on, it would look much better.

Did you create the character as well? (When you say, “apart from the render,” what do you mean?)

Ahh, thanks for clearing that up.
And no, the character is the render, sorry for the confusion.

MoonlaughMaster, ikr, been ages; I’m surprised that anyone is still here.

And thanks, I was kinda thinking that as I made it, but I wasn’t sure what I could of added. I’ll have a go, but any suggestions on how to make him interact better would be great, as every time I add something it looks bad.

He didn’t. It’s a design fad where you combine found images (usually cartoon, pop culture, or video game characters and effects) into an image for forum signatures. The character/etc is referred to as a ‘render’ because it’s usually an image rendered out of some kind of promotional art so that you can just work with the subject instead of the background/etc.

There’s no reason to be dismissive or rude about it. While it’s not my cup of tea, it does help teach some kind of important fundamentals (framing, color balance, etc) and is usually a hobby of sorts. I’m sure you wouldn’t scoff at dadaist collages because they didn’t make any part of the illustration (and I’m not actually comparing forum signatures to dadaist collages, but just because he didn’t draw anything doesn’t mean there isn’t any value in it).

It’s absolutely appropriate to be dismissive. I wasn’t rude; I was making a very clear point.

Posting someone else’s creative is unethical and fundamentally wrong. It doesn’t matter if you throw a cool filter on it, or whatever. You don’t need to steal someone else’s artwork to learn framing, color balance, or anything else. Shoplifting is also a hobby for some people, and that doesn’t make it right, either.

Montages are different. They are juxtapositions of disparate elements and messages. The alchemy of montages is the art.

He wanted feedback. I am providing it. He clearly has an eye for color. He should use it to MAKE something.

It doesn’t really matter if it’s called a “render” or not. It’s an appropriated image. I don’t have any problem with people using appropriated images, but if they expect some kind of critical feedback, it implies ownership.

A parallel would be taking a song and remixing it. If you’re asking for feedback, you should credit the artist that you’re leveraging.

If the image is released to the public, (i.e., “public domain”), that STILL doesn’t provide license to claim the image as your own. This isn’t really about “Pirate”-monkey’s contribution; it’s about transparency in creative license. It sort of makes it doubly insulting, in his case, that he then encourages other people to steal it.

I’m disappointed that you think my reaction is rude, rawismojo. I think it’s rude to present other people’s work in a way that suggests it’s your own. It bums me out, and if I see someone take my stuff and republish it without creative credit—and someone calls them out—I should hope that as a mod you would protect the sanctity and spirit of creative ownership.

Pete: Well, back when PirateMonkey was a regular, signatures (featuring “stolen” renders) were a big thing and they were encouraged. People would receive good critique on their use of the design principles and it was a useful learning tool. It’s natural for him to ask. He’s not selling the art, he’s not claiming he made the render, calm down. (He was assuming that people would know he didn’t make the render. Signatures are fairly well known, as is the use of appropriated images and fractals within them.)

Pirate: The color is good, but as Raw said Mastechief isn’t meshing with the background…. The horizontal line in the left circle is reminding me of a horizon line, and moving that down to be under his foot could possibly blend him in more, otherwise even just some kind of shadow would probably help. Good job. See if you can find somewhere to pop some text – placing text is always a challenge!

I’m not upset, so I don’t need to calm down. And I’m not being rude, so I don’t need to be told not to be rude.

I’m simply pointing out that using someone else’s artwork is wrong. I surprised to hear you guys suggest that it’s not only acceptable, but encouraged. In the “real world,” you’d get absolutely fired and black-listed for such flagrantly unethical behavior. I have absolutely no qualms about discouraging the use of appropriated images except in special cases, with proper introduction.

I disagree that it’s a useful exercise in graphic design. I mean, only so much as decided where to put your couch makes you an interior designer. Yes, the bokeh is nice… but he didn’t need to sully it with someone else’s creative property.

And I also disagree that just because he’s not selling it, it makes it okay. He overtly says in his post, “feel free to steal.” Well, he’s already taken someone’s artwork. It’s not his to give away, or use, or manipulate, or whatever… any more than my Mona Lisa is appropriate.

Woah, calm down dude. If it bothers you this much, I can remove it.
I didn’t want to cause argumentation, I just wanted feedback on how well I had created the tag.

This art style is the one I am most familiar with (in digital art) and so is what I decided to create as practice; seeing as I haven’t made anything for ages.
I understand that it isn’t the same as creating your own work 100%, and why you don’t prefer it, however, it’s more for me, re-learning the basics, and receiving feedback on how well I’ve achieved that.

Perhaps you’d like to help me create ‘my own’ work by linking me to somewhere useful to start, or pieces you find inspiring?

Aware that I’ve done the text wrong, but unsure on what I’ve really done wrong.
I think it may be the actual text, not the placement, but I’m not overly sure.

People here sure are fond of telling other people to calm down. Why is that?

Where to start? Art school. If you want to learn to draw classically, in a classical style (i.e., “realistically”), look for an Atelier school.

Pieces I find inspiring? Too many to cite. Art, and how you pursue it, is a deeply personal decision. It’s best not left up to other people, (any more than it’s best to take other people’s work and redefine it).

Frazetta inspired millions of people to draw. Get to know the artists and you’ll find things worth developing in yourself.

The human eye identifies and interprets text forms quickly, and primarily from the top of the letterform. There are two aspects to type treatment; legibility and readability. Legibility refers to the ease in which the reader can see and identify the glyph. Readability is the ease in which the reader can put the glyphs together to form the idea.

Your type treatment suffers a little bit in both. When you say you’re “unsure what you’ve done wrong,” it’s not clear if you mean that you didn’t adhere to the type style of the property you’re paying homage to, of if it’s simply too difficult to read.

Zero leading is one issue, particularly that you’re using a very delicate typeface. You might look at a slab-serif or something that holds its form better at such a small size. You can also open it up a little and introduce some lead between the lines, and decrease the transparency, (or increase the contrast).

Also, stylistically, with zero leading and stacked, off-center type, it’s common to make the dominant word larger. In your case it looks like you just scaled the type horizontally and created a faux extended face. I’d return this to its normal state and simply enlarge the word “chief.” FWIW.

Looks better with something under his foot.
Your font at the moment seems to be trying to steal the focal (to me) Maybe a different color? Or you could move it up and across slightly so they share the focal point….
Now, font choice. I’d suggest a nice, clean sans-serif. The piece can hold it’s own weight with the background, and the font really isn’t meant to steal the focal, so a simple font will do. The crispness of a sans-serif would echo the clean lines in the circles you have IMO.

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